Embrace of Death
by Ja'el Nosharik
Summary: Before Humanity and the Gods, there was Chaos. But what was there before Chaos? What caused Chaos to form? The answer: The Three Ancient Races. Follow Ajax as he explores what it means to be a Nightstalker, and how he can change the tide of battle. Percy/Artemis, OC/?, Annabeth/Luke. Oh and Evil Annabeth! Woo hoo!
1. Chapter 1

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Whalen, Nora." The man behind the window said in a bored voice. "One pack of Trident gum, one blue hair bow, two pocketknives, one container of lipstick." The man turned away from the window to get some more items and another name. The girl walked out of the Juvenile Detention Center, what us 'mistakes' call "Juvey"./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Gronen, Ajax." I stood up and slowly walked to the window. "One pocket knife, one black baseball cap, one hundred dollars cash, one iPhone 6, one ball point pen, one yo-yo, one copy of em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The Iliad/em, one flash drive, one pair of earbuds, one book of Sudoku." I picked up my items ad started walking away. "One more thing." The man said, so I turned around. "One eye lens case." I picked it up and began my long walk home to New York./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"I sighed contentedly as I looked out from my patio on long island, observing the ocean. My stomach growled, a few seconds before I heard a knock at my door. I walked over to my door, clenching my fist around a pistol (I had found it in my dad's safe) that was lying on a table. I looked through the peephole in the door, at a man holding pizza. Strange, I didn't order any pizza… The guy noticed my eye at the peephole and, well, transformed is the best word to describe it. A huge shape crashed through my doorway, with a single eye resting in the middle of its forehead. I shot it in the head with my pistol, emptying the clip of its 12 bullets. The monster barely slowed down, barreling towards me with the obvious intent to kill. I don't know what happened next, it all just seemed a blur before the monster disintegrated in front of me. I looked down at my broken yo-yo, which I had apparently torn the string off of. I looked down at my hand, which was tightly clenched around the yo-yo string… holy crap. I had strangled the monster with a yo-yo string? And then I heard the sound of a man coughing politely behind me. I slowly turned around to face a man with goat legs. Or at least em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"feet/em. I dropped my improvised noose in favor of my gun on the floor. I picked it up and realized with horror that it had no bullets in it. I raised my hands in a placating gesture. "Look, bub, you don't have to do this."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe laughed, shaking his head slowly. "You misunderstand me;" He stated, still chuckling. "I'm here to take you someplace safe."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Where?" I asked suspiciously./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Camp Half-Blood, a home for demigods like you." He answered. "I don't know where you learned to fight like that, but dang that was cool. You have a real faint scent though, I'm surprised that Cyclops hunted you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""And faint means…?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""You have a weaker god for a parent, which usually translates into a weaker source of food for the monster attacking you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"It clicked that he was calling me weak. I took a threatening step forward./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Not that anyone's calling you weak, of course." He hurriedly stated, taking a quick step back./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Let's go. Before more of those idiots attack." I said, kicking up the monster's dust. "I'm Ajax. Ajax Gronen." I put my hand forward to shake his./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Gordon Sprout." He confidently replied, shaking my hand./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Where are we going?" I asked, looking out the window of the car we had 'borrowed' from one of the renters in the apartment complex./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141 Long Island, New York." Gordon answered, keeping a calm eye on the road./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I frowned. "But… that hill's empty… right?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Gordon chuckled. "The Mist hides demigods and monsters doings from mortals. Otherwise, mortals would be screwed. None of their weapons have any effect on them. Only Stygian Iron, Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold from Roman times can kill monsters."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""And I'm guessing that this… Camp Half-Blood is protected by the mist from mortals and some magical or material defense from monsters?" I guessed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Aye. We also train you, and give you the occasional quest. You can stay all year or just the summer, depending on your scent and power. You could probably just stay the summer, 'cause your scent is really weak for most monsters."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""What do you guys have there?" I asked./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""A stable for the Pegasi, a sword-fighting arena, a cabin for each Olympian, an arts and crafts place, an armory, a bunch of forges, and the Big House for our meetings."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Do you have family there?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Nah. I've been doing this job for thirty years. Not much time to settle down and get a family. What about you?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I took my time in replying. "My mother was killed in a car accident after I was born. Or so my dad told me. From what you tell me, she's a god. Anyways, when I was six, he remarried to a woman with a kid about my age. She died a year later. Dad fell into drinking and became really angry. He started abusing my sister and I, our only solace was school, where we were treated like freaks because of our twin-like appearance and what had happened to our parents. My sister always got off a little earlier than me, and one day I came home to find her lying on the couch… dead, with bruises all over her body and blood dripping out of her mouth. He had killed her. So I gladly returned the favor to him, killing him with a kitchen knife. That's how I ended up in the Juvey. However, due to the obvious circumstances I didn't get a full life sentence. I was eight when I first entered it. Now I'm what, thirteen? Fourteen? Six years… Time does pass quickly when you're having fun." I chuckled drily. I was impressed with how emotionlessly I had related my life./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The rest of the drive was silence./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"It was night by the time we made it to Half-Blood Hill. And there was a group of monsters chasing us. Gordon called them "Hellhounds" making me think of Black Ops and the dogs… Anyway we were running up the hill, when one of them nipped the back of Gordon's leg, I was carrying him up the hill, when one of them raked its claws across my back. The pain hurt, and when I get hurt I get angry. In a rage, I turned to the Hellhounds and somehow em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"tore/em through them, body parts flying around, only to turn to dust. Before I knew it, I was facing the last one, which whimpered and ran away. I could feel exhaustion spreading over me, so I ran back up to Gordon and carried him through the arbor with some fancy Greek letters across the top. I collapsed onto my knees and fell forward into the dirt, hearing Gordon mutter "You done good, kid. You done good."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I woke up in a room, on a bed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Wake up, princess. /emA voice said. I sat up quickly, getting whiplash from trying to look two directions at once./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No, I'm not standing near you. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Who are you? How did I get here?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"How would I know? I only see what you see. Oh, by the way, I'm Baylor, Baylor Baldwin Elkhart. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Nice to meet you. Now, where are you? And what do you mean you only see what I see?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I'm in your head. And I meant exactly what I said. Now stop talking; I think someone's coming./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Am I insane? Or what? /em/strongI asked Baylor./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No. You're just coming into your bloodline inheritance./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"A tall, blond kid with a scar walked in and came over to my bedside./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Hi, I'm Luke," he said, putting his hand forward for me to shake it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Ajax," I replied, taking the hand and shaking it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I don't trust him./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Great. Insane and paranoid./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Just, just be quiet. I'm thinking./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You're in my head./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ri-ight…/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I picked myself up out of bed, gaping at the black scars across my chest. I looked in a hanging mirror next to my bed, and almost fell over. All of my veins, my lips, and my eyes were all midnight black. I looked so em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"cool/em!/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""The satyr that brought you here, he said that you fought off a group of five hellhounds, and you had blades and tentacles coming out your body, and all of this with three deep scars across your chest bleeding black blood. What are you?" Luke paused, fingering the sword at his waist./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"My coolness factor just went up em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"insanely/em. My mouth formed an "a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_1; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"O/a."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Little explanation here?/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You aren't completely human./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"We've already covered that base./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Or Olympian, or even half and half. You are an ancient breed of alien races, three, in fact: Hellborn, Protogenoi, and Dreadlord. Hellborn were master fighters, their children born with an inherent ability to fight, and they also had elemental fire powers. Protogenoi were master inventors, their technology vastly beyond anything the Olympians can cook up. Dreadlords were easily the most dangerous ancient race, with almost complete control over shadow. One Dreadlord could kill a Titan with practical ease, since they view the world with eyes that can pick up any form of a weakness in a duel or fight. Then they could disassemble the target with shadow, and the masters were able to reassemble the bodies in time to allow life to continue./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I'm going insane, I'm insane, I'm going insane… /em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I know, right? /emA new voice spoke with a distinctive growl./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Victor! You weren't supposed to talk yet! /emBaylor spoke in a panicked tone./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"AW, SHADDAP!/em Victor shouted in my head./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Children, children! We need to work together here! Or we might end up monster fodder! /em/strongI said pleadingly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I think I'm going insane…/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Are you doing the same thing over and over again? /emVictor spoke in his growling drawl./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I paused. strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I don't think so…/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Are you doing the same thing over and over again? /emVictor questioned./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I realized what he was doing, and broke out of my mental reverie on em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"exactly/em how long it would take for me to go insane. Victor wasn't helping either./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I looked up at Luke, who was looking at me with a skeptical raised eyebrow./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;""Eh, just… thinking," I said, picking my jaw a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_2; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"up/aspan class="MsoCommentReference"span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"span style="mso-special-character: comment;" /span/span/span from where it had hit the floor./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"Luke led me around the camp, showing me all the fancy pantsy things a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_3; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"Gordon/aspan class="MsoCommentReference"span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"span style="mso-special-character: comment;" /span/span/span had talked about. When he finished, he took me to Cabin Eleven, the cabin they stick all the unclaimed kids that the gods ignore. I walked in and looked around, at all the kids who a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_4; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"looked/a what I, and the other juvenile delinquents, called 'twitchy,' especially around shiny objects like my iPhone. I whirled around to take my iPhone out of the hands of a young brunette, who grinned insolently at me. I glared back, and she squeaked before running out. "Well, that's useful." I grinned at my new cabin mates, and several of them screamed and drew weapons. I whirled around to look at Luke./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;""What did I do?" I asked./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"He took a few steps back. "Y-you have f-fangs and they're g-glowing!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I yelped and ran out, only to blink and find myself in the shadow of one of the chimneys on the Hephaestus Cabin. I jumped twenty feet into the air. Sobbing, I somehow ended up in front of the Big House, curled up into the fetal position./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I could swear I heard "Animal I Have Become" playing somewhere./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ajax, calm down! /emBaylor pleaded./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You feel angry, no? And afraid? Harness that. Channel this negative energy at the source of your problem. /emVictor encouraged./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I heaved one last sob, before following Victor's instruction and channeling the energy at the source… myself./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Aw, strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"HAIL /strongno! /emBaylor shouted./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Bwahahaha. Will Ajax die? Will Baylor turn out to be a walrus? Is Victor secretly Spiderman? Find out next in,/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Embrace of Death/em. /strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"-Ja'el Nosharik/p 


	2. Swords, Muscles, and Insanity, Oh My!

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"Chapter Two: Swords, Muscles, and Insanity, Oa style="mso-comment-reference: lb_1; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0830;"h/a/span/em/strongstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt;" Ma style="mso-comment-reference: lb_2; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0842;"y/a/span/em/strongstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"!/span/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 18.0pt;" /span/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;""What do you think he is?" a female voice said./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;""I don't know, I have never seen something like…that," a deep male voice said, a tint of anxiousness touching it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;""em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"That/em has a name, you know," a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_3; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0846;"I/a said, sitting up slowly. "And it happens to be Ajax."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"I groaned, feeling my stiff back muscles stretch. I was back in the infirmary, with a blonde girl and what appeared to be a centaur sa style="mso-comment-reference: lb_4; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0847;"tanding/a in one corner of the room. They both looked over at me, before getting into a huddle and whispering together./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Of course, you didn't /ema style="mso-comment-reference: lb_5; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0849;"have/a em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"to try and kill yourself, you know. /emVictor spoke./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Vicky, I think that that is the first time I've heard sentiment from a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_6; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0849;"you/a/emem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;", /emBaylor said in amazement./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You should have tried something else first, like finding all of your weak spots, /emand thenem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" you could kill yourself. /emVictor said with a completely serious tone./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ruined it,/em Baylor sighed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ugh, why do I feel like a semi hit me?/em/strong I asked./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you ABSORBED ENOUGH FREAKING ENERGY TO WRECK THIS CAMP?! /emBaylor sarcastically screamed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Look in a mirror, kiddo. You gonna like a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_7; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0832;"this/a/emem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;", /ema style="mso-comment-reference: lb_8; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0851;"Victor/a drawled in a terrible attempt at a southern accent./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"I looked at a mirror on the wall, only to find myself looking completely normal. All of my special things were gone, like my fangs and eyes. I stood up and walked over to the a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_9; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0852;"mirror/a; my shirt was in tatters, so I ripped it off with surprising strength. The mirror's reflection was astounding, making me gasp. I hadn't looked bad before, but this… I have abs!/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I HAVE ABS!/em/strong I joyfully shouted at the duo in my a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_10; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0853;"skull/a./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"I saw my hair, and did to it what I had always wanted a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_11; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0855;"to/a: I grabbed a bunch of rubber bands and a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_12; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0854;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"voila/em/a! I had a ponytail! I was giddy, dancing around like an idiot. My biceps were thicker than some legs! And my legs were even thicker!/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"OHMIGOSH!/em/strong I shouted./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I told ya, /emVictor smugly stated./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"I slyly looked over at the two people standing in the corner, and decided that they weren't going to be looking at me for a while. I dashed out the door, stretching out my arms and marveling at my a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_13; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0856;"span style="mso-comment-continuation: 14;"speed/span/a. I then a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_15; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0856;"realized/a I was running through the camp wearing nothing but my boxer a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_16; mso-comment-date: 20150209T0857;"shorts/a./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Oh, real nice. Make you look like an idiot on the first day. /emBaylor snarked./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Oh, shut it. You were worse on your first day, /emVictor replied. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Walked into the training room, grabbed a sword, and sliced your foot in half! /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Humph. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Wait, you trained Bay? /em/strongI incredulously asked./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Don't sound so surprised,/em Victor dryly said./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"Then I realized that I had stopped, in the middle of camp, in my boxer shorts, looking like some bodybuilder./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Cue the screaming fangirls,/em Baylor excitedly said, only to be disappointed by silence and a lot of drawn swords pointed at us./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Bay, Vicky, um, little help here? /em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"We can take control of your systems briefly, and get out of here,/em Vicky said, disgruntled at being nicknamed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Do it./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Okay, escape in 5, 4, 1./em Baylor counted down./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"Suddenly it was like I was taking a backseat, just getting to watch, as my body was seemingly rag dolling around the would-be attackers./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Careful, my back just went through surger- OW!/em/strong I shouted in pain as they used my spine like a whip. strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Just be careful with my legs, they haven't had much use. WATCH IT! OUCH! OW! NOOOooooo…../em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ha ha ha! /emVictor cackled madly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Sorry, kiddo, /emBaylor apologized, not sounding sorry at all. In fact, he seemed to be having the time of his life at my expense./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"I felt my back ramming into something furry. And then my legs. And then my head. Baylor slowly turned my head around, to look into the eyes of a furious Hellhound./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Hellhound! /emBaylor frantically stated./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Well, no s**t, Sherlock, /emVictor said in slightly less panicky tones. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Goshdarnit, why are you only wearing boxer shorts? /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"That… is a really good question. /em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Five bucks it was an Aphrodite girl doctoring a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_17; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0835;"you/a/emem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;". /emBaylor said, mentally sending me an image of him handing me money./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Deal./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"We have a slightly more pressing matter, like how to deal with Lassie a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_18; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0836;"here/a/emem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"./em Victor said, annoyed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"The Hellhound reared back, its jaws opening wide enough to swallow a man whole./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Here goes nothin', /emVictor said before making me jump down its throat./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"Baylor and I could do nothing but scream like little pansy a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_19; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0836;"girls/a as we saw the jaws close around a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_20; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0836;"us/a./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Lassie makes an appearance! Seems our favorite dog is more of a carnivore than we realized. See you next time, /strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt; line-height: 200%;"-Ja'el Nosharik/p  
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	3. Journey to the Center of Lassie

p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 20.0pt;"Chapter Three: Journey to the Center of a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_1; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0843;"Lassie/a/span/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 20.0pt;" /span/em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Previously, on /ema style="mso-comment-reference: lb_2; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0844;"Embrace of Death/aem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;": /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Baylor and I could do nothing but scream like little pansy girls as we saw the jaws close around a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_3; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0844;"us/a/em/strongstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"./em/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"As Victor dove down Lassie's a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_4; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0845;"gullet/a, Baylor and I tried to reassert control and do…a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_5; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0845;"something/a…to stop our momentum. I don't know if it's just me, but I really don't think I would like being slowly dissolved in stomach a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_6; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0846;"juices/a./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"WOOOOHOOOO! /emA feminine voice shouted in my head. Cue the migraine./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Blackreach! /emBaylor shouted joyously./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Wonderful. More voices. This time a girl. /em/strongI sighed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"I could feel Victor fruitlessly punching the side of Lassie's stomach like a two year old having a tantrum, hoping to escape like they did in em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Sharknado/em, minus the chainsaw of a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_7; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0848;"course/a. I felt my knuckles nearly explode in pain. Imagine my shock when a half-a-foot-long knife blade shot out of them./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"OW! /em/strongI mentally shouted, causing Victor to cackle madly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Heh, heh, heh, /emBlackreach chuckled./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_8; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0851;"Wonderful/a. I get em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"another/em psychopathic maniac in my skull./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"Victor used the knife to slash out of the Hellhound, resulting in a wound large enough to crawl out. I emerged, looking none the worse for wear, unless you counted that I was covered in slime and Hellhound a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_9; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0853;"guts/a. Lassie exploded like a bag of sand in a a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_10; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0853;"fan/a, covering me in em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"more/em s**t. Of course, since I was covered in slime, all the dust stuck to me./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Sandman? Sandy? Dust Guy? Dusty? /emVictor was speaking in my head./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"What. Are. You. TALKING a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_11; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0855;"ABOUT/a/em/strongstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"?! /em/strongI mentally screamed at him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Oh, you know. Superhero namesa style="mso-comment-reference: lb_12; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0856;"…./a/emspan class="MsoCommentReference"span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 200%;"span style="mso-special-character: comment;" /span/span/spanAt the end of that statement, he started breaking down in laughter./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Why are you laughing? /em/strongI asked, confused./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Look at their facesa style="mso-comment-reference: lb_13; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0857;"…. /aspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/emHis voice trailed off and started the mental equivalent of rolling around laughing./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"Indeed, the faces on the surrounding demigods were quite hilarious, most of them gaping at me with amazement. All of them took several steps back, before breaking up and running away. Wait…did I just say indeed?/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"I was distracted from my musings by the arrival of a rather large raven. And by rather large, I mean ginormous. Someone could ride on this thing. I was filled with the desire to follow it, and ran after it when it started flying away. It lead me down to the forest, where it perched on a rock with a crack in it just large enough to squeeze into. It pecked at the top of the crack, and appeared to be trying to signal me to enter it. The crack lead into a slightly larger tunnel, with walls a few inches from my shoulders. When I reached the other side, there was another crack. This crack lead me into a cathedral-sized cave, with little drawings on the wall. There was a door hidden in the back wall of the cave, painted to look like rock. Of course, being the clueless idiot I am, and not stopping to think about em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"why/em it was hidden, I walked over and opened it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Whoa,/em Blackreach whispered, awed by what lay before a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_15; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0929;"us/a./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Victor, what is this? /em/strongI asked, amazed by the…structure in front of us./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"This is the Hall of Hades, which leads into the Armory. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"What lay before us was nigh inconceivable, seeming to defy the laws of gravity and logic. A staircase floated in the middle of the room, leading up to a massive doorway. But that was not what amazed us. Against the wall were statues of people, all depicted with various weapons and in various poses. They also thrummed with energy, seemingly a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_16; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0932;"alive/a. As I took another step forward, torches around the room lit up, illuminating another breath-taking spectacle. On the ceiling, sixty feet up, was playing what seemed to be a movie, despite the fact that there was no projector in the room. It showed the battles of huge armies wielding medieval weapons, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a view of the solar a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_17; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0932;"system/a./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"Above the statues, right below the top of the stairs, were alcoves stuffed full of scrolls. The alcoves were carved with skulls and bones, so realistic that they almost looked like they weren't carved./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Welcome to the Cavern of the Order of the Night, a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_18; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0933;"Initiate/a/emem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;", /ema voice thrummed through my head./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Who is this?/em/strong I asked./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"My name is Erebus, Initiate. I will be your mentor here, /emthe voice answered./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Whoa, kiddo. You got the Big Guy, /emVictor said, impressed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Should I know who he is?/em/strong I asked Victor./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I am Darkness, Initiate. I was formed by Chaos itself, one of the first children. I see that you have some of our best as your a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_19; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0934;"Chosen/a/emem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;", /emErebus replied./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"That's me, over there. The one with the oversized war hammer, /emBaylor said, mentally pointing me in the statue's direction./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"The statue depicted a fairly young man, with hands placed on the head of a war hammer big enough to make a tank feel threatened./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"And me, over there, /emBlackreach spoke up, pointing me in the direction of a statue depicting a young woman with a bow./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"They messed up my a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_20; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0934;"nose/a/emem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"./em Victor spoke, sending me over to a statue depicting a middle-aged man holding a battle-axe./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Most of our Initiates died young, and the few that survived were made into statues after a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_21; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0935;"death/a/emem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;", /emErebus explained. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Most could not bear the mental and physical strain of our training. Come, you need to be fitted with armor and weapons. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"I walked up the staircase gingerly, expecting one of the steps to fall to the floor. When I reached the top, I froze. The "Armory" was so much more than what I had thought. It was not a 10x12 foot space, but rather a long corridor lined with racks and racks of every weapon imaginable. There seemed to be no real time difference between when this place was made and today, since I could identify P-90s and a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_22; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0936;"M16s/a among scythes and swords. There was even a minigun propped up against the wall./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The Olympians are hindering themselves, ignoring mortal advancements in favor of older weaponry. /emspan style="line-height: 200%;"Erebus growled, /spanspanem style="line-height: 200%;"They could have so much more and leave their children protected twice as well, if they discovered /emaem style="line-height: 200%;"guns/emspan style="font-size: 10.6666669845581px; line-height: 21.3333358764648px;"./span/a/spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /emspan style="line-height: 200%;"He sighed. /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I have made sure to prepare this place for the next generation of Nightstalkers, so mortals could not defeat them so easily. Select which weapons you would like to learn, Initiate. And prepare yourself for the most trying experience in your a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_24; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0937;"lifetime/a/emem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;". /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"I grabbed a scythe off the wall and a bow and quiver full of arrows, before reaching over and plucking up a knife. I shoved them all under one arm and grabbed a sword, before walking to the doorway at the end. I took a deep breath and stepped through into darkness./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"SO! Ajax meets Erebus, and discovers the Cavern! Next chapter will skip a few years to the conclusion of Ajax's training, since it would be kind of boring to a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_25; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0939;"cover/a/strongstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;". Blackreach is totally not her name, BTW. And yes, I did borrow it from Skyrim. Sue me. /strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 200%;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"-Ja'el Nosharik (Makes a dragon wanna a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_26; mso-comment-date: 20150216T0940;"retire/a/strongstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;")/strong/p  
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